Warning games

Over a year ago, I wrote this post about a tiny DIY Game Boy that could fit on a keychain, saying that I would like to buy it. It took some time, but here we are now with the PocketSprite, a polished, commercial version of the original keychain Game Boy. This is a collaboration between the original’s creator, Jeroen Domburg (Sprite_tm), and manufactuer Steve K. The PocketSprite is looking for funding over at crowdfunding site Crowd Supply. The PocketSprite looks like a more polished version of the original, hacked together version that Domburg created, but internally it seems to be packing the same specs: an OLED screen, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, a rechargeable battery, and a built-in speaker. It’s powered off a dual-core, 240 MHz ESP32 chip and 520 KB of RAM. All of those make this vastly more powerful than the original Game Boy, with its 4.19 MHz processor and 16 KB of memory. With built-in emulators, the PocketSprite can play Game Boy, Game Boy Color, Sega Master System, and … [Read more...] about The keychain Game Boy is now a real crowdfunded gadget, and I want one

Best free iPad games So you've got an iPad, but have come to the dawning realisation that you've got no cash left to buy any games for it.Have no fear, because the App Store offers plenty of iPad gaming goodness for the (unintentional or otherwise) skinflint.Haven't bought an iPad yet and not sure which is best? We've got them listed on our best iPad ranking - or you can check out the best tablets list to see the full range available now.Our updated pick of the best free iPad games are listed right here.New this week: Turn Undead: Monster HunterTurn Undead: Monster Hunter is a spooky run-and-gun platformer, in the same territory as arcade classic Ghosts ’n Goblins. Hordes of zombies, vampires and werewolves need offing by way of your trusty supply of stakes, before you make for an exit – and a few moments of feeling smug.But Turn Undead has another trick up its sleeve: it’s turn-based. This means time only moves on when you do, which upends everything you thought you … [Read more...] about Best free iPad games 2018

Best Android games introduction It's been ten years since Android was first announced and in that time we've seen hundreds of thousands of games hit the Google Play Store, but obviously not all of them are high quality, and with so many available it can be tricky to make sure you're putting your cash in the right place.Some titles are expensive and nothing more than just poor ports of a console game. Others are only a meagre amount but are genuinely more entertaining and enthralling than anything found on a console a few years ago.When deciding what Android game is best for you, well... you've got a few choices to consider.Firstly, remember that you won't have just one game on the go at any one time. You might have a title that's great for playing on the sofa or commute, and one when queuing at the bank.Some work better with headphones, others don't - and we thoroughly recommend playing through a few regularly to find the games that work the best for you. Nothing better than finding … [Read more...] about The best Android games of 2018: our top picks

Warning: This piece contains mild spoilers by referencing plot points for The Dig, Mass Effect, and Pillars of Eternity. Anyone with a passing familiarity with video games or those who play them know that games are more than technology. But classifying games as simply some pop culture ephemera that typifies trends and norms also doesn’t perfectly describe them. To really get to the essence of games and the narratives they create, you need to find folks like me—or, more precisely, me sitting at a computer at age eight. That kid, to poach unnecessarily from Deep Space Nine, is both “the dreamer and the dream.” To be less abstract, academic Walter Ong once wrote an essay titled “Writing is a Technology That Restructures Thought,” in which he argued that literacy was not a measure of intelligence, savvy, or know-how. Rather, Ong saw technology as something that restructures the brains of those who think with it, feel with it, and use it. Gaming and, more … [Read more...] about An appreciation of games that click back and change the gamers who love them

House Bill 2686 and its accompanying Senate version would prohibit retailers (including those that operate online) from selling games that include "a system of further purchasing a randomized reward or rewards" to anyone under 21 years of age. a landmark 2011 Supreme court decision overturned state laws that attempted such content-based age restrictions on First Amendment grounds. That decision would likely not apply to the commerce-based restrictions in these bills, though. House bill 2727, meanwhile, would require game publishers to publicly disclose the odds of obtaining specific items from randomized loot boxes in their games. Apple already imposes a similar requirement on games in its iOS App Store, as does a 2017 Chinese law. The odds disclosure bill also allows the state Department of Commerce to audit the game code to confirm those odds, much as existing state gambling laws allow full audits of slot machine code. And Bill 2727 would require "a prominent, easily legible, bright … [Read more...] about No video game loot boxes for buyers under 21, say proposed Hawaii bills